The Athlete's Burden - Jan. 6, 2026

who would spend years playing

emotional games on baseball

and football fields, tennis and

basketball courts,

split time alternating ecstasy

with agony, exchanging

exalted for gutted,

drink and dine on,           

you can do it           

try harder           

get better           

never give up

to become an addict 

to that drug, winI

never imagined the fun of

playing catch with my dad

when I could barely walk,

would lead me down a path

to become a private

in a war called sports

and on those occasions when

this soldier hears the old gunfire -

a baseball rolling to his feet -

he loads it into his hand,

grips it with a strategy and

fires it back a little too hard